Traction-tread device for tractor-wheels.



H. CHWA'TE- TRACTION TREAD DEVICE FOR TRACTOR WHEELS. APPLICATION FILEDIAN.25.19\5. RENEWED NOV. 14.1917.

Patented June 4, 1918.

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HARRY O. WAITE, OF IPIQUA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOELGIN TRACTOR- CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TRACTION-TREAID DEVICE FOR TRACTOR-WHEELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1918.

Application filed January 25, 1915, Serial No. 4,169. Renewed November14, 1917. Serial No. 202,069.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY C. WAITE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Piqua, in the county of Miami and State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Traction-Tread Devices forTractor-Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in traction treads, and moreparticularly to a form of detachable traction device adapted forconnection to the wheels of agricultural or road tractors. The object ofthe invention is to provide a simple, cheap and efficient form oftraction device which may be readily applied to standard tractor wheelsor driving wheels of similar design for other vehicles and for thepurpose of increasing the tractive resistance of the wheel tread forpulling through sand, mud, plowed ground, and in other difficultsituations. More specifically, it is the object of the invention toprovide means whereby ordinary chain may be attached to form a tractiontread for the wheel. I further desire to provide an attaching means forthe chain which will permit of a certain movement of the chain relativeto the wheel in order to prevent the chain from caking up or cloggingwith mud. With the above and other objects in view I have designed aform of chain-attaching means more fully described in the followingspecification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in whichFigure 1 is an elevation of a tractor wheel having my chain attached tothe tread surface thereof. Fig. 2 is'a section on the line 2 of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the attaching hooks showing themethod of securing the chain thereto, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailsection on the line 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 designatesthe rim or tread of a tractor wheel of common design. In order to applymy chain-traction device thereto, I provide a plurality of flattenedhooks of the form shown in Fig. 3, and designated generally by thenumeral 11. These hooks are preferably formed of heavy plate orsheet-metal bent into a U-shaped form to embrace the edge 12 of thewheel rim and having the long arm 13 rolled over to secure a plain, ovalchainlink, as shown in Fig. 3, and designated 14. The shorter leg of theU may be slightly out-turned, as shown at 15, for convenience inapplying the hooks to the edge of the rim. A length of chain, designated16, will be provided at equal distances along its length with the hooks13 secured, as shown in Fig. 3, and for applying such chain to the wheelof the tractor these hooks will be alternately slipped over the oppositeedges of the wheel rim in the manner shown in Fig. 1, so that the chainextends diagonally backward and forward or criss-cross, and completelyaround the circumference of the wheel. The free ends of the chain,designated 17, may be brought together and secured as by a single bolt18 passing through a drilled opening 19 in the wheel rim.

By the simple construction illustrated and described above, I am able toform a very efiicient traction device readily attachable to any standardtractor wheel. In the operation of the tractor, the chain 16 will sinkinto the road surface and grip the latter, and if there is any tendencyfor the tractor wheel to slip, the immediate and primary result will bethat the lengths of chain lying embedded in the road surface will tendto bow out, as indicated by the dotted lines at 20 in Fig. 1, and thehooks 11 will thereby be pulled into tight frictional engagement withthe edges of the wheel rim, thereby preventing any further slip of thewheel. It will further be noted that although it is desirable topositively secure the free ends of the chain to the wheel rim, as by thebolt 19, such securing means will, in practice, carry little, if any, ofthe strain imposed upon the chain since, as described above, the chainautomatically tightens itself so that each pair of hooks serves as asecuring means when there is any tendency for the wheel to slip. Thebolt 19 is therefore necessary, in substance, only as a means forpreventing initial slipping of the wheel and to afford sufficientresistance to bow out the chain and permit the securing hooks 12 to bedrawn into frictional engagement. A further advantage of my particularconstruction lies in the fact that as a Wheel revolves monly used toassist traction in that the latter have an almost incurable tendency toclog-themselves or fill up their interstices with a smooth body of mud,when tractionconditions are particularly diflicult.

While I have shown and described in considerable detail one specificen'ibodiment of n1y-invcntioi1,-it"is to be understood that suchshowing. and description is illustrative only and for the purpose ofmaking my invention more, clear,- and that I do not regard myself aslimitedto; the details of-construc-i tion asshown and described,except/in so far-i assuolrlimitations are included-Within the v, termsof/the following ,claims in:-Which it is my intentionito clailnallnovelty inherent ili-w the device as broadly asthe prior=art 'Willpermit.

What I claim. as mew and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:+

1. The combination With :a Wheel. rim, of a plurality of securing meansslidableialong=1 opposite; edges of therim, and-a chain laced backwardand forward from a securing meanson-oneside to the oppositeSldGv'flllCl. around the periphery of the Wheel. r

2. The combination 2With a 'WheeL rim, :of a plurality ofU-shapedhookslooselyvem-o bracing the opposite edges ;of the rim= landslidable;therealong,sand a chain lacedibacke Copies of, thispatent'mayJbe obtained :forv five= cents Ward and forward across theface of the rim and from a hook on one edge to a hook on the oppositeedge and around the'periphcry of the Wheel.

3. The combination With a Wheel rim, of 35 a pluralityof'hooks'embracing and slidable along opposite edges of the rim and achain laced backwardly and forwardly across the tread surface ofthe.:rim andfroma hook on one edge to a hook on the opposite edge 40 andaround the periphery oftheavheel, and I means for securing the tWoendsof the chain to one-another and to the Wheel. 4

4. The combination with a ,tractor avheel having a fiat tread surface,of a plurality of U-shaped hooksembracing opposite edges ofthe treadportion and slidable tlrerealong each hook having achain-securingloopon; its outer leg,\a chainlhavingsome of its linkssecured-in: the said loops-and laced back--50 Wardly and forwardlyacross: the treadwsun/ faceof the Wheel and from a hookon'v-onea 'edgevto a hook on :the opposite edge and aroundwthe periphery of thewwheel,.and'

means for securingithe'two ends of the chain 55 to onennoth'er and tothe-Wheel.

HARRYC. VVAITE...

In presence of-1,- I NELLIE- B; DEARBORN,

*RONDEAUu each, bye/addressing the! Commissioner of- :Patents,,

Washington, I). 0.,

